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US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

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Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#291

Post by Loquebantur »

derektank wrote: post #277
Loquebantur wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US intelligence community engaging in murdering suspected "weak links" in order to "send a message", "clean the house" etc. is a regularly recurring phenomenon. The fiction, that intelligence community (among many other places in US government) was some harbor of angelic superior morality, capable of restraining themselves in spite of total lack of effective oversight is certainly "simple". That doesn't make it t…

USCYBERCOM is not the IC, it’s DoD. The majority of CYBERCOM tasked units are cyber protection teams, primarily focused on securing the DoD’s own vast and bloated network infrastructure from attack by foreign adversaries. The rest are split between hunt forward teams, cyber support teams, and the combat mission teams, the latter of which are the only ones that conduct offensive cyberspace operations. This is all lite…

So?

"Housecleaning" isn't part of USCYBERCOM, obviously, it belongs to several arms of the (military) IC and is even partly sourced out to private contractors. Obviously, it's not exactly official.

Did you expect them to announce those activities on their website?

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#292

Post by kelseyfrog »

blackqueeriroh wrote: post #286
constantius wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people on HN have either served in the US mil or are sympathetic, and have successfully solved their cognitive dissonance about killing 10k people for 1 soldier. But you're right, whoever they killed was most often either a civilian, someone defending their country, or someone forced to defend their country from an invader. While the US soldiers kill either because they believe in the crazy narratives pushed…

Were all US soldiers in the Revolutionary War war criminals? What about the North in the Civil War? Or WWI/WWII? Nearly every soldier in any war will have directly or indirectly killed an innocent civilian. Which ones are war crimes and which aren’t? How do you decide and who gives you the authority to do so?

Correct. Either all soldiers are war criminals or none of them are. The world is black or white, without nuance.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#293

Post by graemep »

strictnein wrote: post #222
graemep wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its only a conspiracy theory if people on the other side of politics believe it Nothing like politics to make people miss the beam in their own eye

People who believe nonsense about the government assassinating our own citizens come from all across the political spectrum, especially on the fringes. I legitimately don't know the politics of the people commenting here, nor do you know mine.

I confused by this comment. You do not know the politics of people here but I should before making a comment that agrees with yours?

> come from all across the political spectrum

My point is that people are far more likely to call something a conspiracy theory if it comes from the other side to their own

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#294

Post by kstrauser »

greedo wrote: post #285
kstrauser wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a big thing for drone people based out of Eppley AFB in Omaha. Wake up, drive to work, attack enemies, drive home, sit there eating dinner with your family trying to pretend you didn’t kill someone and can’t talk about it. Combat troops get to lean on each other after a firefight: “dude, good shot. That guy was about to get us!” You get validation that you did something to safe you and your friends, and it’s…

Some minor quibbles... It's Offut AFB, home of StratCom. Eppely is the municipal airport. And Offut doesn't have any drone units, nor do they manage any. They due process reconnaissance for sure, but actual drone strikes aren't conducted from there. Creech AFB is where most of the drone units operating Reaper/Avenger etc are based.

D'oh! Yes, Offut, of course.

My Google-fu is failing me right now, but when we lived in Nebraska, there was a long article in the Omaha World-Herald (I'm fairly sure) talking about the mental health problems of the local drone pilots. This would've been at least 15 years ago or so, and things have very likely moved around since then.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#295

Post by le-mark »

nosmokewhereiam wrote: post #111

Glad to see this brought up! My entire Air Force experience is blocked to comment on besides basic training...Tech school and forward is NDA'd, read in, etc You don't really get to sneak a glimpse of operations and write a book like the SEALs seem get to (jk!)

> You don't really get to sneak a glimpse of operations and write a book like the SEALs seem get to (jk!)

My understanding is their books are reviewed by the pentagon and don’t reveal the real secret operational details and that’s how they get away with it. Presumably someone like yourself could also write a book and have the pentagon redact it in a similar manner?

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#296

Post by jcranmer »

jawiggins wrote: post #233
nosmokewhereiam wrote: post #111

Glad to see this brought up! My entire Air Force experience is blocked to comment on besides basic training...Tech school and forward is NDA'd, read in, etc You don't really get to sneak a glimpse of operations and write a book like the SEALs seem get to (jk!)

What is it about being a Navy Seal that makes you want to become an influencer? From the books, podcasts, and misc media appearances you'd think that the Seal Teams were made for media like the Blue Angels.

Citing from the Behind the Bastards podcast, it seems that the guy who started Seal Team 6 wrote a book about his time in special ops (which was mostly lies, AIUI) after he left the military, made a lot of military, and so everybody who has similar dreams gravitates specifically towards the Navy Seals.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#297

Post by theodric »

throw310822 wrote: post #248
jckahn wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe that "death to America" chants should not be taken seriously?

No they shouldn't because "death to" is simply a mistranslation. "Death to" is an idiom in Persian that means approximately "down with"- and in fact the official translation by the Iranian government itself is "Down with the USA". But I'm curious what you thought it meant.

So rather than wanting to kill the USA, they merely want to bring it down? That sounds like a distinction without a difference if you're a military tasked with ensuring that your country continues to exist.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#298

Post by greedo »

kstrauser wrote: post #294
greedo wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some minor quibbles... It's Offut AFB, home of StratCom. Eppely is the municipal airport. And Offut doesn't have any drone units, nor do they manage any. They due process reconnaissance for sure, but actual drone strikes aren't conducted from there. Creech AFB is where most of the drone units operating Reaper/Avenger etc are based.

D'oh! Yes, Offut, of course. My Google-fu is failing me right now, but when we lived in Nebraska, there was a long article in the Omaha World-Herald (I'm fairly sure) talking about the mental health problems of the local drone pilots. This would've been at least 15 years ago or so, and things have very likely moved around since then.

It was definitely Creech. I remember the spate of articles discussing how the officers (the USAF requires drones to be piloted by officers) were both struggling with the close up nature of drone strikes combined with fewer or even non-existent flight hours affecting promotions.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#299

Post by derektank »

DANmode wrote: post #251
strictnein wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who believe nonsense about the government assassinating our own citizens come from all across the political spectrum, especially on the fringes. I legitimately don't know the politics of the people commenting here, nor do you know mine.

Were Anwar al-Awlaki, and the three other U.S. citizens they smoked at the same time also fringe conspiracy theory? or maybe you’re just not fully familiar with the rules of engagement Continuity of Government sets for itself.

Officials in the US government confirmed to reputable reporters that al-awlaki had been killed in a CIA drone strike almost immediately after it happened.[0] Speculating that the US government is secretly assassinating US citizens that are not members of a foreign terrorist organization that the government has been authorized by Congress to wage war against is a huge leap that requires justification

[0] https://abcnews.com/Blotter/anwar-al-awlaki-killed-officials...

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#300

Post by CircuitSeuss »

deadbabe wrote: post #237
nullpoint420 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, isn't that all counter-intelligence? They wouldn't want to be seen?

The entire US powergrid is so vulnerable right now, if there really was a cyber cold war the entire thing could be shut off overnight probably. Given that it's not happening, then it's probably just not a thing.

It’s definitely happening.

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories?f%...

Don’t mistake prepositioning for “not happening.” As you said: “cyber cold war” means there are a lot of incentives not to reveal capabilities or trigger escalation from your adversaries. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa...

Although, that is changing as we continue to escalate. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/cisa-fbi-epa-and-us-go...

If you’re not convinced the threat is real and the cyber warfare is happening, I highly recommend checking out Nocole Perleoth’s To Catch a Thief. S1E7 is especially relevent: Everything Everywhere All at Once. https://www.rubrik.com/lp/to-catch-a-thief-podcast

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